U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION MARKS 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF MURDER OF UKRAINIAN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER

[Click on image for enlargement.]

"WASHINGTON — Leaders of the U.S. Helsinki Commission today marked the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping and murder of Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy Gongadze and expressed concern over recent reversals of media and other freedoms in Ukraine.

“I am disturbed that ten years after Mr. Gongadze’s murder, and five years after the Orange Revolution sparked democratic progress in Ukraine, we now see backsliding with respect to media freedoms there,” said U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. “I am especially concerned over the recent disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Vasil Klymentyev, who, like Gongadze, was known for his investigative reporting."